Winter's Greetings,
If you're feeling the winter blues like I always do in February, a vacation to somewhere warm sounds amazing. Can I afford it? Nope. (Thank you, Emergency Room bill.) So when my best friend Christina suggested a getaway, I told her we should stay close to home. Indoor waterparks offer that 85 degree weather without the price of airfare. Sandusky, Ohio had the most options. We had it narrowed down to Castaway Bay, Great Wolf Lodge, and Kalahari. We only had two requirements: a lazy river and a spa. Castaway Bay had no lazy river. Great Wolf Lodge had no spa. Kalahari was the only one with both.
Now I will admit, I was nervous. I read some reviews a couple days before we went, and I was worried. Everything from customer service to the cleanliness of the rooms and waterpark. I also read that the food was bad. Check-in starts at 4pm. We arrived around 5:30pm because the GPS was all about the country roads. First impression was that the resort is HUGE. From the outside, you can already tell they went for an African theme. The outside of the rooms gave a Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge vibe.
After checking in, we went to drop our stuff off in our room. I was relieved to find the room was clean. It also had an African theme, as did the lobby and gift shops. We had a gas fireplace which I LOVED. We also had a balcony! Too cold to use, but still nice. We had our pal Harambe watching over us. I saw some people say the picture was creepy, but we adored him. We were surprised at how big the room was with it being one of the lowest priced rooms at the resort.
We wandered back into town to grab dinner and stop at the store for snacks. The downtown/mall area has every restaurant you can imagine, so don't worry if you don't want to chance the resort food. When we went back to the resort, we decided to do mini golf. It costs $6, but there's only 9 holes. I loved all the colors and the layout, but it was far too short. I guess if you have young kids it's just short enough to not lose their attention. The Tiki guy at the end is the BEST. Of course, I failed to do it correctly so he didn't laugh and blow out sparkly smoke. Christina got it, though.
Christina got distracted by the arcade. You can seriously get lost in there. We got lost at least twice. It's basically like a Dave & Busters, but the prizes are all kids stuff. They have some virtual reality stuff, laser tag and mini bowling as well. I opted out of playing, but Christina got stuck at this candy game. She used her tickets on a puzzle, magnetic games, and a 8-ball type die.
The lobby has gift shops, a coffee shop that sells Starbucks, a candy shop, and an ice cream shop. We decided we wanted to test out the ice cream because it's from Wisconsin, and anything from Wisconsin is creamy. I tried the Fat Elvis. It was banana ice cream with peanut butter swirls and chocolate chips. It was SO good. Very creamy. The banana flavor wasn't overwhelming at all, and the chocolate chips gave it just a little crunch that it needed.
The next morning was our spa appointment. We had a 25 minute Hot Stone Massage and Halotherapy. What I learned is that 25 minutes is not long enough. I'm a naturally tense person, so 25 minutes is what it takes for me to finally relax. Halotherapy is a room filled with Himalayan salt. One wall in the room is made up of bricks of the salt. The floor of the room is the salt. If you don't know already, look up the benefits. There are so many. I have Psoriasis on a few spots of my forearms, and it is supposed to help with that. It was a 45 minute session in the room. The chairs reclined and were comfortable. About 10 minutes in, I felt like I could breathe. It's a weird thing to describe, like my lungs felt so clear and open. Afterward, I noticed the little pink patches on my forearms turned into little dots instead. I am now a believer of Halotherapy.
After the spa, we had a snack and headed down to the indoor waterpark. When you check in, they give you a wristband to get into the waterpark while you're there. It's basically a hospital bracelet, so I kept it in my pocket and only wore it the last day since I knew it wasn't coming off. There's a ton of stuff to do in the waterpark, but we were only interested in the lazy river and wave pool. Christina had noticed an outdoor hot tub and suggested we also try that. That damn hot tub was my favorite part of the trip. There are neon lights in the water at night, the hot tub is steaming, and it was snowing outside. It was such a fun experience and I wanted to stay out there all night. (Waterpark closes at 10pm, so they shut my dream down real fast.) I wish I could've captured a picture of it. All we got was a daytime photo from a window.
The first resort restaurant we tried was B-Lux Grill and Bar. This was the place where I should've heeded the warnings of bad food. Christina got a pretzel with beer cheese that we shared as an appetizer. I appreciated the bowl of cheese they gave us instead of a tiny cup. It was the best part of the meal. I got the Southern Bourbon Lemonade to drink. It. Was. Amazing. Also dangerous. I could've had them just keep bringing rounds to the table. Christina ordered a burger with waffle fries. I ordered the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich with waffle fries. The waffle fries were good. Nothing special. My sandwich wasn't spicy at all. It was also over-fried and had oil dripping off of it with every bite. Christina's burger was also dripping with grease. We both ended up with stomach aches that night; on top of being so thirsty that no amount of water was quenching it. Never again.
The next morning was check out at 11am. We put our stuff in the car and headed over to the Ivory Coast for brunch. Unfortunately, they stop serving breakfast at 10:30am, so we missed it and had lunch. There weren't a ton of food options, and I had a suspicion that breakfast was the real deal there. I enjoyed the decor in the restaurant a lot. We both ended up ordering wraps. I got the fajita wrap with house-made chips that I was so afraid would end up oily, but it was pleasantly good. The fajita wrap was nothing special, but it was decent. The chips were not oily or salty at all and were more like a kettle chip. Our server Brenda was the best part of the experience. She was so bubbly and fun. I like anyone who can tell I haven't had coffee yet. After eating, we spent some more time in the waterpark (and hot tub!) before leaving.
Kalahari surprised me. The theme around the resort reminded me a little of Disney World, which was comforting. ( I get the Disney blues as well.) The gift shops were very reasonable with their prices. I enjoyed the waterpark more than I thought I would. The spa was so relaxing and I wish I could've afforded to spend the whole day in there. I also loved seeing the little kids see the indoor waterpark for the first time. Their excitement and awe was so adorable. The only let down was the food. I'm not sure what I would do about the food situation if I go back, but I am definitely willing to stay there again.
If you're feeling the winter blues like I always do in February, a vacation to somewhere warm sounds amazing. Can I afford it? Nope. (Thank you, Emergency Room bill.) So when my best friend Christina suggested a getaway, I told her we should stay close to home. Indoor waterparks offer that 85 degree weather without the price of airfare. Sandusky, Ohio had the most options. We had it narrowed down to Castaway Bay, Great Wolf Lodge, and Kalahari. We only had two requirements: a lazy river and a spa. Castaway Bay had no lazy river. Great Wolf Lodge had no spa. Kalahari was the only one with both.
Now I will admit, I was nervous. I read some reviews a couple days before we went, and I was worried. Everything from customer service to the cleanliness of the rooms and waterpark. I also read that the food was bad. Check-in starts at 4pm. We arrived around 5:30pm because the GPS was all about the country roads. First impression was that the resort is HUGE. From the outside, you can already tell they went for an African theme. The outside of the rooms gave a Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge vibe.
After checking in, we went to drop our stuff off in our room. I was relieved to find the room was clean. It also had an African theme, as did the lobby and gift shops. We had a gas fireplace which I LOVED. We also had a balcony! Too cold to use, but still nice. We had our pal Harambe watching over us. I saw some people say the picture was creepy, but we adored him. We were surprised at how big the room was with it being one of the lowest priced rooms at the resort.
Christina got distracted by the arcade. You can seriously get lost in there. We got lost at least twice. It's basically like a Dave & Busters, but the prizes are all kids stuff. They have some virtual reality stuff, laser tag and mini bowling as well. I opted out of playing, but Christina got stuck at this candy game. She used her tickets on a puzzle, magnetic games, and a 8-ball type die.
The lobby has gift shops, a coffee shop that sells Starbucks, a candy shop, and an ice cream shop. We decided we wanted to test out the ice cream because it's from Wisconsin, and anything from Wisconsin is creamy. I tried the Fat Elvis. It was banana ice cream with peanut butter swirls and chocolate chips. It was SO good. Very creamy. The banana flavor wasn't overwhelming at all, and the chocolate chips gave it just a little crunch that it needed.
The next morning was our spa appointment. We had a 25 minute Hot Stone Massage and Halotherapy. What I learned is that 25 minutes is not long enough. I'm a naturally tense person, so 25 minutes is what it takes for me to finally relax. Halotherapy is a room filled with Himalayan salt. One wall in the room is made up of bricks of the salt. The floor of the room is the salt. If you don't know already, look up the benefits. There are so many. I have Psoriasis on a few spots of my forearms, and it is supposed to help with that. It was a 45 minute session in the room. The chairs reclined and were comfortable. About 10 minutes in, I felt like I could breathe. It's a weird thing to describe, like my lungs felt so clear and open. Afterward, I noticed the little pink patches on my forearms turned into little dots instead. I am now a believer of Halotherapy.
After the spa, we had a snack and headed down to the indoor waterpark. When you check in, they give you a wristband to get into the waterpark while you're there. It's basically a hospital bracelet, so I kept it in my pocket and only wore it the last day since I knew it wasn't coming off. There's a ton of stuff to do in the waterpark, but we were only interested in the lazy river and wave pool. Christina had noticed an outdoor hot tub and suggested we also try that. That damn hot tub was my favorite part of the trip. There are neon lights in the water at night, the hot tub is steaming, and it was snowing outside. It was such a fun experience and I wanted to stay out there all night. (Waterpark closes at 10pm, so they shut my dream down real fast.) I wish I could've captured a picture of it. All we got was a daytime photo from a window.
The next morning was check out at 11am. We put our stuff in the car and headed over to the Ivory Coast for brunch. Unfortunately, they stop serving breakfast at 10:30am, so we missed it and had lunch. There weren't a ton of food options, and I had a suspicion that breakfast was the real deal there. I enjoyed the decor in the restaurant a lot. We both ended up ordering wraps. I got the fajita wrap with house-made chips that I was so afraid would end up oily, but it was pleasantly good. The fajita wrap was nothing special, but it was decent. The chips were not oily or salty at all and were more like a kettle chip. Our server Brenda was the best part of the experience. She was so bubbly and fun. I like anyone who can tell I haven't had coffee yet. After eating, we spent some more time in the waterpark (and hot tub!) before leaving.
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